Superman: The Ark of Krypton

Chapter 113

by

Jason Richard

John Corbyn, in a hospital gown, looked at his hands and wiggled his fingers. He wore a disappointed look on his face that made Lex Luthor frown. The bald Tycoon crossed his arms and gave Corbyn a look that could have frightened an alligator.

"Is something wrong?" asked Luthor.

"Everything feels weird," said Corbyn. "Whatever I touch feels...different...wrong...like going from sugary soda to diet soda. It all just feels off."

"That would be the synthetic skin," said Luthor. "We tried to make it feel like real skin, but I suppose we aren't quite there yet. Oh well. If that feels weird, tell me how this feels."

And Luthor walked over to a table, picking up a bar made of pure titanium, the length of a man's arm. The brilliant Lex Luthor had trouble holding it up, but when Corbyn took it he didn't stagger at all. The mercenary held the bar in his hands and bent it, the metal creaking as it gave with hardly any resistance at all from Corbyn's perspective. When he held a loop of metal rather than a bar, he grinned.

"I think I can get used to the weirdness," said Corbyn.

Luthor grinned back and said, "Glad to hear it."

…

It wasn't quite finished as far as Lytener was concerned, but to give it every single alteration he had intended would take another day. This was at least as good as the first suit, so that would have to do.

He walked over and knocked on the door of the cell to tell someone.

…

"It's ready," said Brainiac over a readout of a device that resembled a laser rifle. "Point this at the portal and it should close up. I'll send as many probes as possible to protect it."

"Sure," said Kara, standing up. "And escort me. I'll take it there myself."

"As you wish," said Brainiac. "I'd recommend caution if you intend to use your newfound powers to fight. You are inexperienced with them, and if you try to do too much you could drain them faster than you intend."

"I'll be fine," said Kara.

…

Ursa stood, feeling as if she had as much power as she could afford to wait for. She cracked her knuckles and her neck and planned her next move. Looking around she used her X-Ray vision and hearing to spot the battle, and saw Superman throwing her people back through the now gigantic portal. Seeing it from afar gave her a new perspective.

Normally she'd consider beings using robots to fight their battles, rather than doing their own fighting, nothing more than cowards, but she supposed she couldn't blame these humans in this case. How else would they fight beings like her? She could feel the power coursing through her. Were she in their position, she'd want to hide behind automatons as well.

Of course, none of this thinking would stop her and Zod from taking control of this world as a new Krypton. The humans may resist now, but one day they'd appreciate Kryptonian control.

She honed in on Superman, planned her line of attack, and sped off. She flew faster and faster, a vacuum of air forming behind her. She could feel the sonic barrier forming in front of her, and knew she couldn't go much faster than that. If she did, she'd alert her enemy, even with all the sounds of battle distracting him.

So instead of trying to hit him too fast for him to react, she flew as high as she could, watching the world get farther and farther away. Soon the sky gave way to black and stars, the earth so far away. Ursa looked down from on high and took a moment to take in all it.

If she had needed to breathe, her breath would have been taken away.

The moment passed, and she flew back down, the Earth now getting closer and closer. With her powerful vision, she could see the battle down below. Once again she could feel the air around her twist as she flew down, her entire body engulfed in flames as she passed back into the atmosphere.

Down and down she went, zeroing in on Superman. In less than a minute she had flown down and had her fist pulled back, ready to hit Superman where it hurt.

And Superman looked up at the last moment as if he'd been expecting her. In fact, Superman had realized that she'd disappeared and had been waiting for her to make a move.

Ursa, surprised, knew she couldn't hesitate now and threw her punch at his left cheek. Superman blocked, the impact thundering across the battlefield. After all the power Ursa had absorbed she still didn't have enough to overpower someone who'd lived in this sunlight his entire life. Ursa's eyes grew wide as the truth of that dawned on her.

Superman then flew higher than her and pulled his own fist back, intending to launch her back through the portal. Ursa, on a reflex, used a move designed specifically to use an opponent's force against them. For a second, she realized she had no idea if it would work while she was flying and fighting at this strength level.

She grabbed his wrist and twisted her entire body, synchronizing her movements with his, and pulling him forward. Superman found his own momentum swinging him down and towards the battle below.

And right into the red sun laser blasts.

He must have hit seven of them on the way down as he landed, making a crater as he did. The whole exchange took just a few seconds, but suddenly the Kryptonian forces weren't being thrown backward anymore, and as they jumped up they found they could destroy more tanks. As Zod noticed Ursa's success, he waved his men forward.

"Advance men!" he cried. "Hit them with every single ounce of power you have!"